Automation Question

Maddy Menna

Hello Smartsheet Community!

Hoping someone can help me with a workflow issue. I have a tracker that is tracking facility issues requests. I am trying to set up two workflows which appear to be faulty. Reading through each set up I can see the options I have selected are an issue, however I can't figure out how to get the correct drop down options for each.

1. Not Started - when the status is Not Started I need a workflow to go to the Director and owner of the tracker on a daily basis. I've attached what I have set up. It flows once and that's it.
2. Not Assigned - if the Assigned to MAH column is blank I need a workflow to notify on a daily basis. This works once and then does not go out on a daily basis.

Thanks for your help!

Maddy

Automation Question.docx

Sarah Keortge

Your triggers are based on the Status and Assigned to MAH cell values changing (from anything to Not Started / from anything to blank assignment). You're going to need to have them triggered on a different change for each row, something that can change every day, and you're probably going to have to artificially create that change.

If that sheet experiences activity regularly/daily, you might simply add a helper column with a column formula of =TODAY() so that the first time the sheet is opened and saved each day or receives updated data via links/cross-sheet formulas, it will recalculate and update today's date. From there, your automation will pick up that each row has received a change and then process the condition for each row.

If you can't guarantee that the sheet will be opened and saved each day, then you'll need an additional solution to force the update. In our organization we use Microsoft's Power Automate to do this as it's pretty foolproof. We have a scheduled workflow which runs early every morning and simply inserts a row in a dedicated sheet. That sheet contains the =TODAY() function in a cell which is then linked out to any sheet that we need to recalculate on a regular basis. So the moment Power Automate drops a new row in, the dedicated sheet is recalculated and all of the linked sheets are as well. There are other tools you can use to do something similar - if you have access to the SS premium apps Bridge or PivotApp, I've successfully used them in this way.